The present invention is directed to a toy racing car game accessory and, in particular, to a fuel management system including a tachometer and fuel gauge for an electrically driven toy racing car.
The tachometer provides the thrill of authentic automobile racing by supplying a visible indication of changing car speed based on operation of the speed throttle. The speed throttle may be "opened" to bring the racing car near maximum speed. This is commonly known as "red lining", wherein the tachometer needle advances to a red zone at the extreme of the tachometer dial face. The amount of displacement of the fuel gauge towards "empty" is made to depend on the swing of the tachometer to simulate fuel depletion during a race. "Red lining" of the tachometer needle is accompanied by displacement of the fuel gauge needle towards "empty". During a race, the operator may attempt to bring the car to maximum or near maximum speed whenever possible. If the speed throttle is "opened" and "closed" too much or too often, the fuel gauge is brought quickly to "empty", whereas "opening" and "closing" of the speed throttle only when necessary, for example only at the junction of curves and straightaways, results in more efficient fuel management and gradual movement of the fuel gauge towards "empty".
Accordingly, the accessory provides not only a visible indication of car speed but also an indication of fuel management efficiency based on the skill with which the speed throttle has been operated. If the throttle has not been operated efficiently, for example, by too frequent "red lining", the fuel gauge may quickly swing to "empty". This condition can occur relatively early in a race if the speed throttle is not managed properly. The penalty for this condition is drastic--loss of power to the car during the race.
Throttle controls for electric racing vehicles have been known heretofore. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 3,432,166 discloses a control wherein a ratchet wheel is incremented by a pawl each time that a potentiometer speed control wiper is operated to slow down the car. After a predetermined number of operations of the wiper, a cam arrangement causes the wiper to place the full potentiometer resistance in series with the track rails to drop the track current and slow the car to a crawl. The car must then proceed at a slow pace until it reaches a pit stop for removal from the track.
Various speed indicating devices for toy cars and other apparatus are also known. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 3,652,937 discloses a speed indicator for a model railroad car wherein a circuit connected to the track rails separates commutation modulation from the rectified track current. A capacitor discharges periodically and recharges through a circuit including a meter. The meter reading is proportional to the commutation signal. U.S. Pat. No. 3,594,921 discloses a speedometer which provides an indication of simulated car speed in a driver training apparatus. U.S. Pat. No. 3,942,114 discloses a motor speed indicator wherein a meter is responsive to the sum of sampled throttle voltage and motor current. And U.S. Pat. No. 3,936,955 discloses a stall indicator for a driver training apparatus wherein a tachometer is mechanically coupled to a motor and the motor current is summed with the tachometer signal, the sum being compared to a reference to detect a stall condition.
A device for automatically varying the speed of a toy car based on running time, to simulate change in fuel tank weight, has also been proposed, see "Hobbies" Time Magazine, pages 64-65 (Mar. 19, 1965).